The Bengals are bringing in another quarterback.
Per Tom Pelissero of NFL Media, Desmond Ridder is signing with Cincinnati.
It’s a homecoming of sorts for Ridder, who played his college ball at the University of Cincinnati. Bengals head coach Zac Taylor was also Cincinnati’s offensive coordinator and QBs coach when Ridder was being recruited.
Ridder, 25, was a Falcons third-round pick in 2022. He started four games for the club in his rookie year and 13 in 2023. With the Falcons signing Kirk Cousins and drafting Michael Penix last year, Ridder was traded to the Cardinals. But he ended up with the Raiders, appearing in six games with one start last season.
He completed 61 percent of his throws for 458 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions in 2024.
With Jake Browning solidified as Cincinnati’s backup behind Joe Burrow, Ridder is likely competing to be the team’s third quarterback. The Bengals also have Logan Woodside and rookie Payton Thorne on their roster at QB.
Joe Burrow didn’t need a Batmobile to bring a few jokers to justice.
Authorities in New York have secured a pair of guilty pleas from pawn-shop managers who bought and sold items stolen from the Bengals quarterback’s home last December.
On Friday, 43-year-old Dimitriy Nezhinskiy pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to receive stolen property. He faces up to five years in prison, restitution of roughly $2.5 million, and forfeiture of more than $2.5 million. He also faces potential deportation.
“For more than five years, Dimitriy Nezhinskiy established a demand for stolen merchandise, which allowed South American Theft Groups to profit from repeated burglaries,” FBI Assistant Director in Charge Christopher Raia said in a statement, via ESPN.com. “His purchases perpetuated a ripple of criminality targeting residences and businesses across the country.”
“This defendant ran a black-market pipeline, buying stolen luxury goods from organized theft crews that targeted homes and businesses,” New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said in a statement. “It was a deliberate operation that helped professional burglars prey on innocent people.”
Nezhinskiy’s plea comes a month after 48-year-old Juan Villar pleaded guilty in June to the same charge. He co-managed the pawn shop in question.
Basically, Nezhinskiy and Villar created the incentive for others to conduct the burglaries, by making it clear that they’d provide cash for the items that were stolen. Multiple members of the ring of thieves were arrested earlier this year; they’ve been charged with the Burrow caper and other burglaries.
Burrow, who abandoned a plan to buy a $3 million replica Batmobile after the burglary, said during the Quarterback series about the theft, “It just felt like the kind of year that it was.”
Maybe the guilty pleas are a sign that this year will be different for Burrow and the Bengals.
Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins are the highest-paid receiver due in the NFL.
Chase signed a four-year, $161 million extension and Higgins a four-year, $115 million deal. They want to prove they are worth the $276 million.
“I’m pretty sure that’s the big thing Cincinnati wants us to do, too,” Chase told Ben Baby of ESPN this week. “And not just Cincinnati, the fans and everyone around. You got to prove ourselves all over again.”
Chase won the receiving triple crown last season, leading the league in catches (127), receiving yards (1,708) and receiving touchdowns (17). He was the fifth player since the AFL-NFL merger to accomplish that feat.
Higgins missed five games for the second consecutive season but still managed 73 receptions for 911 yards and 10 touchdowns.
The Bengals committed to both long term, having drafted Higgins in the second round in 2020 and Chase in the first round in 2021.
“I think it’s been a good journey,” Chase told Baby. “I know Tee’s been on a different journey than I have, with [the] two different boats we’ve been in. But we just basically added our boats together now, just learning from each other, building with each other.”
Chase and Higgins participated in a wide receiver workout with former Bengals star Chad Johnson earlier this month. They were among around a dozen wide receivers who participated.
The Bengals signed second-round linebacker LB Demetrius Knight Jr. on Saturday, the team announced.
His signing leaves only first-rounder Shemar Stewart unsigned.
Knight received nearly 80 percent of his four-year rookie deal guaranteed, Jordan Schultz reports. It’s the first time in NFL history the 49th overall pick has received guarantees in year four.
Knight spent his first four collegiate seasons at Georgia Tech before playing one year at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and one at South Carolina. He played in all 13 games with 10 starts for the Gamecocks last season and totaled 82 tackles, eight tackles for loss, two sacks, one interception and three forced fumbles.
The Bengals also announced they placed tight end Erick All Jr. on the active/physically unable to perform list and placed center Seth McLaughlin on the active/non-football injury list.
All, who caught 20 passes for 158 yards as a rookie, tore an ACL in Week 9 last season. He required two surgeries since it was the same ACL he tore in 2023 while still in college.
He could miss the entire 2025 season.
McLaughlin tore an Achilles last season while at Ohio State. He was one of the team’s top free agent signings this offseason.
Holdouts often are couched in terms of the player wanting more, with the not-so-subtle suggestion that they want too much. They’re holding out, for more.
It’s often more accurate to say they’re standing firm for what they deserve, and that the team is being unreasonable. That it’s not about the player putting the squeeze on the team, but the team putting the squeeze on the player. When that happens, the team has failed.
That’s what the Bengals have done. For reasons neither known nor apparent (other than “they wanted to”), the Bengals have changed the default language in their contracts to extend the consequences of voided guarantees to the balance of the deal. It’s a new term, and this year’s rookies are the Cincinnati guinea pigs.
First-round edge rusher Shemar Stewart has refused to accept the new language without a fair concession. The Bengals refuse to make one. Their attitude has been “take it or leave it” (or, more bluntly, “shut up and play”). Stewart has left it, and he has not shut up.
He’s now officially not with the team for his first training camp. The Bengals have failed to get a deal done. And they’ve shown no inclination to bend.
Although the Bengals are cheap, this one isn’t about money. It’s about power. It’s about who’s in charge. “We are, you’re not.”
The Bengals are also stubborn. They’ll expect Stewart to cave. Maybe he will.
Or maybe he won’t. Maybe he’ll try to play college football. Maybe he’ll sit out the year and re-enter the draft.
The problem is that the Bengals don’t sufficiently care about working something out. They want Stewart to surrender.
They’re prioritizing that power over winning. If they truly cared about winning, they’d come up with a win-win that would get Stewart in camp and get him ready to help the Bengals not stumble out of the gates.
Again.
